Performer Slim Bryant took country music in new direction
During a visit a few years ago, Thomas H. Bryant II sat in the home of his father, Slim, in Dormont and watched him play the 1936 Gibson L-5 that he had strummed for more than 70 years.
"What do you want to hear?" the elder Bryant said. After running through a list of favorites, he put the guitar back in its case, saying his age was catching up with him.
"It hurts too much to play anymore," he told his son.
Thomas H. "Slim" Bryant, a legendary country musician, died Friday, May 28, 2010. He was 101.
Mr. Bryant's musical career took off when Jimmie Rodgers recorded Bryant's song, "Mother, the Queen of My Heart," on Oct. 21, 1932. The song has since been done by singers ranging from George Gobel to Merle Haggard.
At a time when band leaders such as Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller were driving popular music in a new direction, Slim Bryant and his Wildcats were helping to move country music to the next level.
John Rumble, senior historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, once said that Mr. Bryant's band updated string band music, taking it in a "hot, jazzy direction."
Mr. Bryant called it "country music with a beat."
In addition to Jimmie Rodgers, Mr. Bryant performed with the Skillet Lickers, an influential country string band; Clayton McMichen and his Georgia Wildcats; Gene Autry; Eddy Arnold; Les Paul; Burl Ives; Rosemary Clooney, and Snooky Lanson.
Mr. Bryant and his band came to KDKA radio in 1940 and were on every morning until 1959. They were part of the first generation of country music "professionals" who could earn a living because of the advent of radio, Rumble said.
His son did not follow in his father's footsteps.
"I played the radio," said Bryant II, of Olathe, Kan., who called his father a "true Southern gentleman who loved people."
In 2007, Mr. Bryant released a collection of 31 of his songs recorded 50 years ago at the NBC Studios in New York.
"I always thought the world would be a better place with more Slim Bryants. What a gentleman," said Dormont Mayor Tom Lloyd, who knew Mr. Bryant for 40 years.
Last year, the borough asked Mr. Bryant to serve as co-chair of its centennial.
"He will be missed," Lloyd said.
In addition to his son, Mr. Bryant is survived by a grandson, Thomas H. Bryant III of Austin, Texas; a granddaughter, Jenny Elizabeth Meyer of Gardner, Kan.; a brother, Posey M. Bryant Jr., and nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Jane Bryant, and his brothers: Loppy, Pete, Jack and Charles "Bud" Bryant.
Friends will be received from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. on Monday in Beinhauers Funeral Home, 2630 West Liberty Ave., Dormont, A memorial service will be conducted 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Dormont Presbyterian Church, 2865 Espy Ave.
